Game of Thrones returning to Iceland for limited season 5 filming

According to Icelandic news site RÚV, Game of Thrones will be returning to Iceland to film its newest season, as the show has done the last few years. However when HBO’s film crew turns up, it’ll be without the actors of GoT, and for a much briefer stay.

RÚV reports that the main focus of filming this fall will be landscape shots only. They spoke with GoT line producer Snorri Þórisson, who confirmed that the show intended to film a battle in Iceland in the month of November, but that with rewrites, the scene grew too large. Filming in Iceland in the fall poses some difficulty as there is a very limited amount of daylight hours, and so the battle scene will have to filmed elsewhere.

Snorri also said he believes the production may return to Iceland in the future.

Ours is the Fury: A battle in a cold landscape, as Iceland would be in the fall…speculate away!

That sounds exciting. However, let’s not jump to conclusions–remember how excited we got for the Battle of the Fist of the First Men based on Cat Taylor’s post about complicated shots, pyrotechnics, etc?

Besides The Battle of Winterfell, this could also be something Hardhome-related, perhaps a big scene of wildings being massacred by White Walkers, if they think that storyline has enough dramatic potential. Or it could be something not from the books intended to give S5 a little more ‘oomph.’

Since the Winterfell set is in Northern Ireland, this is probably Stannis vs. Ramsay and Freys at the Crofters village. Presumably the whole plan with the lake would make it logistically difficult to shoot, especially on such a restricted schedule.

Relief of Hardhomegets my vote – it’s consistent with the Night’s Kingscene they did this season. Maybe we should start looking out for Mother Molecasting news – they announced they were casting Varamyrafter all. Anyone else think Osha & Rickonmight get caught up in the Hardhomethread on the show?

Canis DIrus:
It seems a season too early for the Battle of Ice, and I doubt we will see Hardhome in the show… I have no ideas of what it could be, but either way, I’m pumped it is going to be big.

I don’t agree with your spoiler tagged comment. I think it’s quite likely that we’ll get both Battle of Ice and Battle of Fire near the end of season 5. Though it’s also possible we get only Meereen in season 5 and that the battle of Wintefell is very early in season 5 – if they don’t have the budget to do two big battles in the same season. Then again, their budget must have gone up with the ratings the show got this year.

I don’t think we’ll get both the Battle of Winterfell and the Battle of Mereen in the same season. More likely, we’ll get the Battle of Winterfell and Dany riding away on Drogon and get Mereen next year as everyone gets into place.

lol that’s what I think but with the battles switched around. Think the intrigue and Sons of the Harpy and all that would take the whole season while at the Wall we need Jon to become LC and Stannis to take off – but then Stannis personally doesn’t really do much until the battle so they might give it to him to have him do something. Dany will have stuff to do already until she’s ready to disappear at the end of the season and show up midway next season or whatever.

Annara Snow: I don’t agree with your spoiler tagged comment. I think it’s quite likely that we’ll get both Battle of Ice and Battle of Fire near the end of season 5. Though it’s also possible we get only Meereen in season 5 and that the battle of Wintefell is very early in season 5 – if they don’t have the budget to do two big battles in the same season. Then again, their budget must have gone up with the ratings the show got this year.

Do you think we’ll get Meeryn’s this season? With all the stuff that still needs to happen before?

Fair enough. I just think too much development needs to happen at the wall with Jon and ALOT of interacting with other characters, much of which involves Stannis. I could very well be wrong.

Mereen though, I don’t think there is any way in hell that happens. Gotta do depressed Tyrion likely hanging out with Varys and (maybe) Illyrio, then hitting the road, then eventually meeting up with Jorah before he even starts travelling to Mereen, and he needs to be there for the battle. No idea what they’ll do with Vic, other than prob cut him, but as we know, he plays a big role in this battle as well. Dany’s S5 journey will likely end in the Dothraki sea. Too much else going on to get all the way to the battle of Mereen.

Only battle I can really see being plausible at this point is Winterfell but even that would be a push as we still don’t really know what happened there.
I suppose they could upscale the tussle over Mycella in Dorne as another battle but I think there’s far too much going on in Mereen/across the narrow sea to rush towards the siege of Mereen and again it’s not actually happened yet in the books.
Personally I don’t need a big battle this series. Happy to have them spend the time introducing and developing all the characters properly.

After the Craster’s Keep incident Jon offered the women safety. An older woman said no, they can do their own thing and take care of them selves. Would be quite neat if that woman becomes the Mother Mole character.

Well, in your opinion. I thought Arianne, Victarion and Doran were all very well done. Euron was done well too as he’s meant to be a bit of an enigma at this point.
I’d agree the Sand Snakes could have been done better and not really sure there’s a need for all of them but if they take the place as Ariannes fellow conspirators then it’d make more sense show wise.
Lie it or dislike it, the source material is the source material. If you deviate too far from it then there’s no point in basing it on the source material. After the madness of SoS, Feast was a building book, setting things up to further the storylines. GRRM wasn’t even going to do Feast or DwD but the fans wanted them so I think that they were very good efforts when you consider that.

Absolutely nothing of importance happens in Mereen before Dany flies off, and Quentyn and Viccy are cut. So yes, the Battle will be in Season 5.

I’m sorry but I have to disagree. A lot happens ib Meereen before the battle takes place. The harpy conspiracy, Dany’s wedding, the pale mare, the fighting pits, Dany in the Dothraki sea, Barristan taking control of Meereen, Tyrion’s travels through the Royne, Jorah capturing him, them been enslaved, their escape, their joining the second sons and don’t forget we haven’t got Brown Benn Plumm introduced yet so there’s plenty going on in Meereen before the battle happens. I doubt it will be next season.

Stannis, Jon, Theon, Danerys and Cersei should get the most sceentime in Season 5, going purely off the source material. And you still have Arya, Sansa, Tyrion, the Greyjoys(if they aren’t cut) to allocate time too. I don’t envy D&D right now. There’s no possible way to tell 2000+ pages of story without making massive cuts

Josla: I’m sorry but I have to disagree.A lot happens ib Meereen before the battle takes place. The harpy conspiracy, Dany’s wedding, the pale mare, the fighting pits, Dany in the Dothraki sea, Barristan taking control of Meereen, Tyrion’s travels through the Royne, Jorah capturing him, them been enslaved, their escape, their joining the second sons and don’t forget we haven’t got Brown Benn Plumm introduced yet so there’s plenty going on in Meereen before the battle happens. I doubt it will be next season.

See, exactly nothing happens before dany flies off to who knows where.

My bets are working out. Yes to battle of Ice, no to battle of fire. This won’t be a full episode thing though (or they would never plan on filming in Iceland), so probably 5-15 minutes in episode 9 alongside some other goodies (a little pit maybe?).

The show can make Meereen watchable by adding intrigue and fleshing out the Harpy (Green Grace of course) and upping some stakes. It won’t be the highlight but as long as there’s tension (if they bring in the Yunkai army early) it’ll work.

Turncloak:Stannis, Jon, Theon, Danerys and Cersei should get the most sceentime in Season 5, going purely off the source material. And you still have Arya, Sansa, Tyrion, the Greyjoys(if they aren’t cut) to allocate time too. I don’t envy D&D right now. There’s no possible way to tell 2000+ pages of story without making massive cuts

And Dorne, which seems like it’s going to have a lot more shown than people expected. I’m guessing we won’t get much Sansa next season.

I’d say the way to tell 2000+ pages of story without making massive cuts is to just move through it quickly. Hit the important beats and imply the rest. Someone was saying Tyrion would go straight to Volantis rather than down the Rhoyne, because his story is slow-going in that part. I’d argue that rather than cut it entirely all they need to do is have him in Pentos in episode 1, on the Rhoyne 2 and 3, Volantis in 4, sailing to Meereen in 5 and 6, enslaved in 7, in Yunkai by episode 8. It’s busy and has the ‘jetpack’ quality, but still reasonable.
Things like the Kingsmoot could be done within one episode as well. If they approach all the storylines with this mindset, I think it’ll work without drastic cuts. The only material I’d expect them to cut entirely is Quentyn traveling to Meereen. Just have him leave Dorne in episode 2, arrive in 8 and die in 10.

I was chatting with a buddy of mine over some ales about where the next season should go here’s the conclusion we’ve come up with:

I really think they should leave KL alone for a season, Tywin’s dead and Tyrion’s running away, let’s let that concept simmer with fans for a while and have the only communications coming from King’s Landing be letters about a crazy queen regent or necromancing activities that need warranting.

There are great stories to be told on The Wall, In Dorne, the Iron Isles, and of course over Essos. Kings Landing simply seems like filler this season.

I don’t understand their strong desire to wrap up in 7 seasons. Seems like now we’re approaching territory where things are going to seem rushed in an attempt to complete that goal of 7 seasons. If this is indeed The Battle of Winterfell it’s kind of early for that. I hope that they don’t rush through the ending of this story and start omitting stories and characters (Connington, fAegon, Greyjoys) just because they want to seem artistic and on par with Breaking Bad and other TV show influences they have listed as finishing before it got stale.

There is much story to tell here. Going beyond 7 seasons hardly makes me think it would grow stale. Also, I doubt highly anyone will care 20 years from now that the kid characters from the books became adult characters on the show. Who cares? I don’t understand why they do.

No way! Its Cersei and Lena Headey’s time to shine! If they beef up the Cersei VS Margaey rivalry and cut the not needed characters then it should be great. I assume Cersei’s Walk will be the finale to the KL storyline.

My vote is for Battle of Winterfell. The shots that they need to film on Iceland can be the march of Stannis’s army from the Wall to Winterfell (i’m starting to think that they may cut the all Stannis on Deepwood Motte part, but if cutting it means that we get Battle on the ice next season, bring it on).. May also be Hardhome, wich would be awesome too, just remember Cotter Pyke’s letter at the end of aDwD.

I agree with your sentiment, generally speaking, about seven seasons being too short (they should make the eight), but we’ve seen the Boltons riding up to winterfell. What will they do for an entire season (let alone two?)…. Besides hopefully eat some pies, torment Reek a bit more, have a quick wedding…. Maybe they introduce some northern lords and build up a bit of political suspense….
Only thing I can think of other than the battle of ice is hardhome (which it could be given the cgi fest that would have to be) or Yara/Stannis…. Bit I’m not sure we’ll even get either of those.
Battle of Ice it just may be. (And this means a block is fetched….. Maybe ep seven??)

Steve:
I don’t understand their strong desire to wrap up in 7 seasons. Seems like now we’re approaching territory where things are going to seem rushed in an attempt to complete that goal of 7 seasons. If this is indeed The Battle of Winterfell it’s kind of early for that. I hope that they don’t rush through the ending of this story and start omitting stories and characters (Connington, fAegon, Greyjoys) just because they want to seem artistic and on par with Breaking Bad and other TV show influences they have listed as finishing before it got stale.

There is much story to tell here. Going beyond 7 seasons hardly makes me think it would grow stale. Also, I doubt highly anyone will care 20 years from now that the kid characters from the books became adult characters on the show. Who cares? I don’t understand why they do.

Its easy for us book readers to want everything from the book and assume the showrunners have a magic wand up their ass and create shit ln a second. The scale of this show its not easy as it seems, there’s a lot of actors, locations and whole lot that comes creating it with the amount of time they have. Their goal is to create a Great TV show (Not a book) and break it down into entertaining episodes.

7 seasons seems logical for me. Perhaps by the end of season 6 they will consider 8 seasons depending how much good material GRRM writes on his last books.

Oh yeah, we’re getting our Battle of Ice :) … it makes sense, they have the material to put it in Season 6, but if they only make 7 seasons that’s just too late. On the other hand I am sure the Battle of Fire will be at the beginning of Season 6, just like in the books.

I agree with this post, except that I think Quentyn should try to free the dragons and become fried chicken during the big battle. It makes more sense that during the action, Quentyn will try to get himself a power weapon. Also that episode early in season 6 is bound to be huge and that could be the big dragon scene of the episode (along with some battle rampage). It just makes more sense IMO.

No way! Its Cersei and Lena Headey’s time to shine! If they beef up the Cersei VS Margaey rivalry and cut the not needed characters then it should be great. I assume Cersei’s Walk will be the finale to the KL storyline.

Not to forget the High Sparrow and Faith Militant build. Plenty going on in King’s Landing this season but I agree that there’s more going on outside of it. The more I think of it the stupider an idea it is to cut Victarion and Euron out. A sizeable amount of the last two books was devoted to them and they have potentially important roles to play.

No, because Osha was absolutely perfectly 110% crystal clear that she was NOT going North of the Wall.

I *would* be nice to see a scene or two of Rickon and Osha arriving at The Greatjon’s place, having him recognise and greet Rickon “Little Lord of Winterfell” Stark. Come to think of it, they should’ve included a short scene of that happening in the finale.

D&D know exactly what happens to them, so they’d know if they have important roles or not. I like to think that they’ll include Euron, but Vic’s role may have been written out with Dany having her own ships in Meereen (and if Vic’s sole purpose is to be deliver ships to Dany they should definitely cut him).

If he’s important, maybe D&D could combine him and Euron into one character. Like if he steals the dragons or something.

I think Quentyn should try to free the dragons and become fried chicken during the big battle. It makes more sense that during the action, Quentyn will try to get himself a power weapon. Also that episode early in season 6 is bound to be huge and that could be the big dragon scene of the episode (along with some battle rampage). It just makes more sense IMO.

Also, Quentyn=Trystane is my bet for the show

This is a good point and makes sense for the show. It may all come down when the Battle of Meereen ends up happening within the show’s timeframe. Also, yes merging Trystane and Quentyn had occurred to me and I’m warming to that idea, although it does suggest Trystane isn’t very important in the last books.

it’s too early for the battle of winterfell considering Jon hasn’t even been elected Lord Commander yet. Plus it would make more sense to havv that battle where they filmed the Winterfell scenes, and they’re just shooting background shots, I feel like for the actual battle they would want the realism of the previous battles on the show and shoot it on location with the actors. It’s probably a small battle, or not a battle and just Stannis’ army in the snow when they are heading towards winterfell and have Asha kidnapped.

Trystane as Quentyn makes no sense. They can’t age him up that much and there’s no reason for him to be in Meereen if he’s not there to win Dany’s heart. Quentyn is going to be like Oberyn, they’ll introduce him and have him in like 3 episodes, and then the dragons will get him

But they are aging Trystane up. The casting call says he is 18 in the show. Of course, the casting call says that he is handsome, and that would sort of alter Dany’s denying the marriage offer and alliance with Dorne. It’s not the only reason Dany turns him down, but her lack of attraction to him was a factor.

No need to cut either really. Especially when they’re including irrelevant characters like The Sand Snakes , Areoh Hotah and Maggy the Frog! I get thatt they know what is going to happen in the books but I don’t want to know yet until I’ve read the books! By cutting major things out then it’s completely undermining and spoiling them. I’ve got faith that they’ll be included as no one major has been left out yet and I’m not sure why they’d start now. Hope D&D have the good sense to take a break from the series if htey run out of source material to play off. No need to rush it. The fan base isn’t going away and there’s plenty of prequels and other things they can do to keep them happy until George has finished writing. Not sure why there’s such a need to rush things out these days. Take time and produce something that will be remembered instead of rushing things because people can’t wait like a petulent child.

Don’t mean to be rude but wasn’t quite sure what you were trying to say in the first parapgraph there.

There’s plenty to do with those two books if things are done right. They are technically the same book only written from different perspectives which is why you may feel that way. Some of it may well bleed into Winds of Winter. With GRRM taking his time writing the books then I just don’t understand this rush to burn through all the source material.

I think they’ll play on a Trystane and Mycella romance with Trystane having to give up his love to try and secure Dany’s hand for the good of his House. That or he strings Mycella along as a way of keeping KL believeing that Dorne is still onside. Just hope they haven’t aged the two characters up just to get them naked and having sex. The Missandei business last season was blatant and a bit too obvious and ultimately served no purpose and the “Storyline” of her and Grey Worm should have been sacrificed and the time given to do other more important stuff properly.Trystane may also serve as Quentyne too. Quentyne is a character I have no issue with them cutting. He served no purpose in the book whatsoever.

Phil:Trystane as Quentyn makes no sense.They can’t age him up that much and there’s no reason for him to be in Meereen if he’s not there to win Dany’s heart.Quentyn is going to be like Oberyn, they’ll introduce him and have him in like 3 episodes, and then the dragons will get him

He would be there to win Dany’s heart, which would be even harder for him given he’s fallen in love with Myrcella, Doran having broken their betrothal in order to send him to Meereen. Makes sense to me, especially given in the books Trystane/Myrcella seems like a done deal, but the audition tape had him planning to ask Doran’s permission to let them marry. Setting him up for a surprise refusal, I’d say.

The battle of ice happens on a frozen lake outside Winterfell, not inside Winterfell. We don’t yet know how it ends, but we know that they’ll probably leave Stannis’s fate a cliffhanger for the Pink Letter to have maximum impact and only then reveal that the letter is false (whether Stannis faked his death or whoever else wrote the letter for what reason). The only other possibility for a large, snowy battle is Hardhome- but the fact that it’s supposedly a rather long and complicated scene it does seem much more like the battle on the ice (unless the show took my advice on sending Jon to attack Hardhome, but there’s not much time for big original arcs now that 7 seasons are locked in).

Anyway, I hope I’m right. I’d love to see an expanded Hardhome scene but I’d much prefer to have a fulfilling arc in season 5 rather than an ADWD cliffhanger.

I’d love to see Hardhome happen but which characters would actually be up there to see it go down?! Unless Jon sends up Alliser or Ed or even from out of the blue Benjen comes back into it up there it’s still quite a tenuous link. On the Wilding side I can’t see it happening either with Varymr not being introduced yet and Mance and Tormund having plotlines at the wall.

Jon can replace Cotter Pyke, take Tormund with him and go save Varamyr’s Wildlings. It would make up for the disappointment of the battle of the Fist and would keep them a real threat to the viewers before they attack in season 6/7.

But yeah I’d prefer for this to be the battle of Ice since we only get 7 seasons.

All I’m gonna say is that if they go significantly past ADwD next season and don’t warn us, I’m going to be severely pissed off. Much as I understand they want to keep viewers (and if I know they’re doing it, I won’t watch), they’ll betray a huge portion of us if they do it without warning.

You should be able to tell where the season is headed by the middle episodes. It is pretty much guaranteed to enter into TWOW material, even though the two battles were chapters that GRRM moved out of ADWD, and are both already written.

Jon can replace Cotter Pyke, take Tormund with him and go save Varamyr’s Wildlings. It would make up for the disappointment of the battle of the Fist and would keep them a real threat to the viewers before they attack in season 6/7.

But yeah I’d prefer for this to be the battle of Ice since we only get 7 seasons.

I dunno. I think Jon kind of needs to be at the wall with his election to Lord Commander, showing his leadership abilities, negotiating with the wildings/Northern Houses/Nightswatchmen, dealing with Stannis and his interactions with Melisandre. Not sure he’d have time to travel up to Hardhome. Maybe Tormund could go up there to try and bring as many Wildings as he can back to the wall? Maybe taking Ed or someone with him? I think we’re hoping more than anything here now!

Jon can replace Cotter Pyke, take Tormund with him and go save Varamyr’s Wildlings. It would make up for the disappointment of the battle of the Fist and would keep them a real threat to the viewers before they attack in season 6/7.

Or, since the trip to Hardhome would take him past Skagos, replace Pyke with Davos if they want to cut the Manderlys.

doesn’t make sense to shoot the battle of winterfell in a totally different location from where they’ve filmed winterfell in the past, and I’m pretty sure Hardhome won’t be shown, no one important is there right now and to show it would just be useless battle filler to try to appease HBO or something since there aren’t any major battles in Feast/Dance

All we know for sure is that background shots are being filmed. They probably don’t need anything else there.

Maybe they’ll give the scene to somebody else or have one or two Manderlys appear at Winterfell. But adding the Manderlys, White Harbor, and Davos’s book storyline is not only a question of time, but of cost as well. New characters, new locations, etc. Simply not the same thing as writing a – probably unnecessary – scene utilizing two already established characters in an already established location.

But I wonder how much of AFfC and ADwD would Season 5 cover?
I’m listing the SOME story arcs and how much would be included on Season 5.

Tyrion & Varys- Jorah might meet them early on. (Not sure on how they’ll play out Varys) I expect he won’t meet Aegon & Jon Con on the way, but still reach Slaver’s Bay midseason of Season 5. Maybe he’ll end up on Daznak’s Pit on E09 and forge some sellsword contracts on E10.

JonCon & Aegon– I hope they’ll be included on Season 5. If they will, I doubt they’ll be introduced the way they are introduced in the books.

Dany & Mereen- I’m pretty sure Dany would fly on E09. As in PRETTY SURE. He’ll meet her khalasar on E10. All major happenings and drama on Mereen would be included throughout maybe? And my bet is that the Battle of Mereen would be on early Season 6.

Reek & Ramsay- They are finished on the first chapters of Theon/Reek on ADwD, leaving the possibility of the inclusion of Battle of Ice on Season 5. Maybe they’ll marry fake Arya to Ramsay early on.

Jon & Stannis & Mel & the Wall- Jon would be elected very early on, like E02 or E03. That might give Stannis enough time to make out for the Battle of Ice. Jon didn’t do much on his 12 chapters on ADwD, so I expect some material won’t make it on screen. I’m rooting for the Pink letter, Jon’s stabbing, and hints if we’ll see Jon on Season 6 or not, on E10.

Cersei & Margaery & KL- We’ll see the Walk of Shame on E08 or E09, leaving Ser Robert Strong on E10 and Cersei’s trial by combat on Season 6. Margaery and Cersei would be against each other over controlling Tommen. Cersei’s downfall would be the core for Season 5.

Arya- Uhmm. The only thing I’m sure is that the training occurs throughout the season. I’m not entirely sure on the extent of her story arc on Season 5, though.

Sansa & Lilfinger- They are almost running out of material for AFfC, so the two would have invented material AND material from the unpublished TWoW. Remember the “controversial Sansa chapter”? I think whatever this is would be included for E08 or E09 for Season 5.

Bran- Holy S. Bran has one chapter left for ADwD, and that chapter is mainly about his “training” with BR. So TWoW material? I hope to explore the Land of Always Winter!